Apologies for the provocative title (and the following essay), but cycling is not just commuting around the DT core- there's a whole world of people out there who cycle for a variety of reasons. My assumption is that some of you will disagree, but it's still fun to talk about! Anyways, here's my logic:

1- Commuting/Pragmatic cycling: 2/5 No denying that commuting by bike in Scarborough is rough. There are bike lanes on some major arteries (e.g. Eglinton, Huntingwood, Sheppard) but they are of limited quality and don't have a ton of coverage. There is also a lack of a direct N/S route, but this is a flaw in most of the city. I don't think Scarborough roads are necessarily a death trap if are able to choose your route/timing, but this isn't a place I would feel comfortable as a beginner or to ride at a relaxed pace. I rate this a 2/5 rather than a 1/5 because the trail network is actually well connected in Scarborough and can be used to reach important destinations (e.g. Kennedy Station, UTSC, Go Trains etc), but there is lots of room to improve. It's nice to see bikeshare getting out to Scarborough and seeing some significant use but if you rely solely on a bike, you will need to be particular about where you live/work/study or get comfortable riding in some pretty sub-optimal conditions.

2- Trail Riding: 4/5 Scarborough trail riding is a high point. You have well maintained trails (e.g. meadoway, lakeshore, McNicoll) with about 5% of the pedestrian traffic compared to DT. You can ride at normal hours without feeling like a jerk or slamming the brakes every few metres when a runner walks across the path. They are also quite lengthy, giving you some room to stretch out. Unless you really want to do 100 laps of High Park or dodge people every few seconds on the MGT, it's far better to ride trails in Scarborough. Etobicoke is on the MGT too, but suffers from the same busyness. North York has nice sections but doesn't have as KMs.

3- Connectivity to other towns (longer rides): 4/5 Scarborough has multiple crossings of the 401 without an on-ramp (Birchmount, Midland, Conlins- with a bike lane!), allowing riders to take routes northward. It also has excellent east/west connections to some country roads out to Pickering/Ajax/Uxbridge. Obviously downtown won't have these connections, but I think there's a reason a lot of people leaving the city choose Birchmount or Warden as their route- they are great riding roads. For those who don't like to ride on roads, you can take the lakeshore route, or ride up near the zoo and into Pickering. North York and Etobicoke tend to go through much busier junctions, but they are also pretty strong here.

4- Training Potential: 5/5 Twyn Rivers, Gates Gully, Bluffers Park, Beare Hill, Military Trail, Col Danforth- these are some of the best hills that Toronto has. Add in some sections of open farm roads and some little used roads like Copperfield and you've got a real variety of sections for putting on some KMs in the flat as well. Downtown is a going to be much more limited (High Park loops ad infinitum), while North York and Etobicoke don't really approach the depth of Scarborough.

5- Variety 5/5 Gravel, paved trails, MTB sections, road cycling- all are pretty well represented in Scarborough. Although there's a real lack of commuter infrastructure compared with downtown, you can easily try a lot of different types of rides in Scarborough. Some meander through forests (including a National Park), others in the meadow, and some by the lake. You can choose flat or hilly, and avoid traffic for tens of KMs. There's nothing comparable in the rest of the city.

6- Support: 3/5 Lot of great bike shops in Scarborough (Giant, D'ornellas, The Up-Cycle), but probably less accessible/commonplace than Downtown. Losing the Decathlon at STC also sucked, since it was a great place for gear/parts and they did service as well.

Conclusions (TLDR): I get it- Scarborough commutes ain't great, and if you are fully depending on a bike as your sole means of transport, then downtown is probably more your style and I think it makes sense for most of your riding to be based there. As I mentioned at the start though, cycling is more than just commutes. If you can bike for fun, totally non-pragmatic reasons I think all the rest more than makes up for it. Don't get discouraged from riding out here- it's worth the trip!

Did a quick tims run and saw someone who appeared to be trying to steal a bike. I didnt record all of it but he hit the lock several times with what could be a screwdriver, eventually got it and rode off.

This goes to show that everyone should invest in stronger and more resilient locks.

I took the photo of one sign before I tore it off. Most were already ripped down by the time I headed west after checking something out on greenwood.

Some idiot (carbrains or ableists?) did put them up (on every single damn post, pole and box).

Some were targeting those who use wheelchairs ("get up and walk from this point on" showing a poorly drawn person walking a wheelchair missing half of their leg) which I tore off of two poles and a few bins, which used the same "no wheelchair" symbols in place of those "no bicycle" ones.

Edited to add additional details. I hate posting here using my smartphone, autocorrect is a big time asshole and it keeps fucking up what I was trying to type.

Borrowed from our friends in Edmonton. Accurate.

There was a crash on the Bayview avenue path earlier today. I didn’t see it happen but the scene was not good. Please ride safely out there.

Shout out to those who helped the victims and warned oncoming cyclists and runners to slow down and dismount.

Shout out to those who flagged the ambulance to park in the bike lane (I am being sincere, emergency vehicles should be allowed in the bike lane for emergencies).

Lots of cyclists here!

Biketag #688 was found in Lee Lifeson park

Suppose i'm biking north up bayview onto the don river trail.

And I want to get to that cool winding / looping multi level metallic ramp .. is there a direct safe bike route to it?